Also Andrew Bynum, Amar'e Stoudemire, and Tyson Chandler. And I don't think Josh Smith has actually made an all-star game, but I'd call him and all-star level player. And Al Jefferson's just under that level--he'd have been an all-star by now if he had been on better teams.

Rather than looking at guys like Stoudemire and Howard, perhaps what we really should be looking for is the last big man to make his first all-star game after 8 seasons in the league. The only guy I can think of is Antonio Davis, who made it in on his 8th year but this was under extenuating circumstances (if I recall it took 3-4 other big men pulling out due to injury before he got called).

If Amir Johnson had gone to college it might have been an even tougher road to the NBA. He would've gone to Louisville and probably would've had to play at least a few seasons in college. The Cards weren't good enough to crack the top 65 in 2005. After that they did, but Amir would be competing for playing time with Earl Clark the rest of the way. Earl Clark was selected 14th overall in 2009. Hard to predict where Amir would've ended up if he'd been buried on Pitino's bench..

Something I've been wondering lately about Amir is whether he has any potential as a floor-spacing PF. He's gotten to the point where I'm totally okay with him taking that long 2 from straight away. He's actually been making it from that area at 50% this season, which is better than a lot of floor spacing bigs from the same area (better than Bargnani, Anderson, Nowitzki, Millsap). But he doesn't have the same versatility or range as most of these guys. He's got one spot on the floor where he's reliable from, but any other long two, and his numbers sink significantly.
The big problem with this is that straight-away seems to be the least effective spot for floor spacing. Getting your defender out to the top of the key isn't as effective as getting them out toward the sidelines, which opens up the middle. The other big problem is that his shooting motion basically begins at his knees. I'm shocked that he doesn't get blocked more than he does, with such a long, slow motion. This makes it not really an effective motion for a pick-and-pop, except when his guy leaves him wide open. And he doesn't have enough control that he can really take the ball to the hoop strong if he draws his guy out effectively. He's much better moving without the ball and catching in motion, as on pick-and-rolls. I will say this about him: he knows his game, and thus tends to just shoot from his comfort areas and only when he doesn't feel traffic around him. When his man gets out, he passes off rather than trying to beat him off the dribble.

So what I'm wondering is if there would be any value in having him put in a lot of work on that long jumper in the offseason, particularly from the wings, and try to give him a more useful skill. Is his solid straight-away shooting evidence that he could be similarly effective from other points on the court? Or they could even totally rebuild his shot to a more efficient motion for pick-and-pop shooting? Or would the Raptors would risk breaking a very serviceable big by moving him too far outside his comfort zone?